Current Connection 3.2

     In many American television shows and movies, women are making a stand as equals alongside men. However, in Japanese anime and manga, women are still seen as weaker sex objects, while the men they interact with are portrayed as stronger breadwinners. This is in keeping with a gender role stereotype that has been a problem for many years among men and women everywhere. The point is as such: is Japan taking a stand for or against gender equality?
     In an article written by Eri Izawa, a student at MIT, mentions that a friend from America complains that Japanese pornography was "...sadistic, (heterosexual)[and] male-oriented." This shows that even Americans can see the one-sided nature of what the Japanese show their people, a blanket of favoritism, a monster consuming the progress that had made. However, further on in her article, Izawa states that "women have not been invisible... some of Japan's greatest literary figures were women." It would seem that Japan has not been prejudiced, giving their citizens an equal amount of male and female influences. People just have to think for themselves, and use what influences they get to create a personal opinion of gender roles.
     A statement in a separate article written by Sean Boden, a writer for nausicaa.net, states that " Women are offered few roles in [Dragon Ball Z] and what roles they’re given are dismally backwards. While it has been pointed out that fundamental beliefs about gender roles are difficult to change in any society... Dragon Ball Z has portrayed the role of women as subservient/secondary at their core." In this anime in particular, the men are the heroes of the anime and they save the world several times, however the women are left in their homes, making little more than cameo appearances to show that they still exist. However, a few changes from this routine exist, primarily in the case of the inventor Bulma. Boden writes that "Bulma is portrayed as a confident, intelligent woman who, while not of equal status, still remains an important part of the team." A few exceptions are always going to happen, throwing a wrench in the systematic response. Some women in anime are made to think of everything as a nail, being a hammer themselves.
     Gender roles in anime, while prevalent, are not incapable of being overcome. The women in these anime are sometimes powerful, while other times depending on the men to do what needs to be done. Definitely not equal, but they are certainly getting close.


Works Cited:

Boden, Sean. "Women and Anime: Popular Culture and Its Reflection of Japanese Society."
     Www.nausica.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.
Izawa, Eri. "Gender and Gender Relations in Manga and Anime." Gender and Gender Relations in
     Manga and Anime. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.